


Self-defence 101

by Angelology, whalehuntingboyfriends



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - GTA, Fake AH Crew, GTA AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-04-01 22:23:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4036696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelology/pseuds/Angelology, https://archiveofourown.org/users/whalehuntingboyfriends/pseuds/whalehuntingboyfriends
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times the Fake AH Crew taught Gavin to defend himself and one time he put it into practice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Self-defence 101

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heylittlehunter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heylittlehunter/gifts).



> This is an embarrassingly late birthday present for heylittlehunter/some-fantastic-url-name - hope you like it!! <3

The last place Gavin had expected to find himself on this fine Tuesday afternoon was kneeling in an old storage shed with his hands tied behind his back and two large men glaring down at him, one of them swinging a baseball bat into the flat of his other palm, the other ominously cracking his knuckles.

Yet here he’d gotten, somehow, and was now left to bemoan this unfortunate situation while slowly losing circulation in his hands.

Absolutely bloody top.

“You want to tell me what you were doing in our boss’ office?” Knuckle-cracker - big guy, ginger beard to rival Jack’s - demanded. 

“Routine IT check,” Gavin replied immediately, and the Ginge let out a low growl, unimpressed.

Honestly, this was all terribly inconvenient, and more than a little embarrassing.

The office belonged to a rather disreputable criminal lawyer who had recently become a big name in their area for managing to get several rather dubious cases off the hook. There were rumblings of corruption, and while the police were bound to soon set up their own investigation, Geoff had wanted to know who the man’s current clients were, lest any of the Fake AH Crew’s enemies be on the list. So Gavin had headed over to his office with Ryan and Ray to get into his computer. The lawyer had been out, so it hadn’t been hard to break in.

They’d expected security - and dealt with it - but what they hadn’t foreseen were the two mercenaries hiding out in the back of the building. It was a quiet place, part of a small strip mall in a secluded and rather questionable neighbourhood, and the second Ryan and Ray left Gavin alone in the office to go and check out the area, thinking they’d cleared the building, the two guys had appeared out of nowhere and grabbed him, dragging him into a courtyard area out back where this shed was.

Now the Ginge gestured and the other man stepped forward and then, without warning, swung and caught Gavin in the stomach with the baseball bat. Gavin retched, doubling over, and the bat came back to hit him across the face. He crumpled sideways to the floor, winded and coughing hard, head alight with pain.

He hadn’t actually been hit all that hard - the guy was obviously aiming to cause pain more than serious injury - and he took a few deep breaths, gathering himself as he spat out a mouthful of blood. Bit his tongue, fabulous.

“Maybe now you’ll be a bit more inclined to talk.” The Ginge reached out and grabbed the front of his shirt, hauling him upright easily and setting him back on his knees. Gavin gasped a few times, struggling to catch his breath - shit, that hurt - and the man leaned in, face very close to his. Despite the man holding back on the blows, Gavin’s head was still swimming and he struggled to focus on him.

“You working for someone?” he demanded, and Gavin pulled a face at him - wincing when it tugged at his bruises.

“I mean, I guess you could say that.”

The guy would _flip his shit_ the second he realised he’d grabbed one of Ramsey’s, he thought, fighting not to grin. People didn’t tend to recognise him much - courtesy of half his work going on back at the base; the team hacker didn’t usually have to go into the field. Stuff like this was an exception, and usually pretty exciting. Except for, you know, the being kidnapped and hit with a baseball bat part.

Speaking of, _points_ for creativity on that. And negative points for foresight because they’d taken him barely ten metres from the office and he knew Ryan and Ray would be busting in here any second now. That was the only reason he wasn’t really scared at all.

They’d come for him.

They always came.

Except then the Ginge pulled out a very sharp looking knife, and things abruptly stopped being quite so fun, but Gavin barely had a chance to feel panicked before a shot rang out and Baseball-Bat-Guy crumpled to the floor, dead.

They hadn’t even heard the shed door open. But the Ginge was an unfortunately quick thinker, and before Ryan and Ray could even fully enter the room he was behind Gavin, hauling him upright, one hand in his hair yanking his head back and the knife at his throat pressing down hard enough to draw blood.

Honestly, it would probably be sensible to be scared at this point. But Gavin’s head was pounding and he was starting to feel dizzier and dizzier and he was pretty sure he was concussed from that initial head blow. The gunshot had made his ears ring and he didn’t even hear what Ryan and the man were saying to each other - was just focused on staying upright with his knees buckling as they were so that he didn’t lean down onto the knife - and before he knew it there was another shot and the Ginge was falling away behind him as Ray lowered his gun, accurate as always. Gavin fell too, right into the arms of Ryan, who caught him easily.

“You alright, buddy?” Ryan asked, hands running over him in concern. He had his mask on but Gavin could hear the worry in his voice. He felt oddly touched.

“Fab,” Gavin replied, letting out a groan of relief as Ray ducked down behind him and cut the zip ties around his wrists. He’d made a passing attempt to get out of them but it hadn’t worked very well (or at all). 

“Not looking great, Vav,” Ray said then - sounding oddly serious as well - he reached out and thumbed some of the blood from Gavin’s neck, tilting his head to observe it with a frown. 

“Oh, thanks.” He was getting a bit confused now, because how it went - how it had gone for three years now - was that he got in trouble and the others came and saved him and then they all laughed it off, no harm done. But Ray and Ryan weren’t laughing now, and he didn’t know why, but maybe he was still more than a little out of it because he didn’t really register too much after that, just that they helped him up between them and they led him out to the car and didn’t crack a single joke along the way, even when Gavin made what he thought was a rather clever remark about Yosemite Sam. Killjoys.

.

So it turned out that getting hit in the face with a baseball bat was Not Great, but Could Have Been A Lot Worse. According to Caleb, anyway, who patched Gavin up when they got back to the base, declared him mildly concussed and a bit bruised but otherwise fine, and promptly sent him off with orders to “Please try not to do that again, it’s becoming a bit excessive.”

Gavin was not quite sure what ‘excessive’ was meant to mean - except that maybe this was the third time in the last two months that an incident like this had occurred, which, okay, fair enough. It was because he was going out in the field more lately, it was just the nature of the jobs they’d been pulling as the Fake AH Crew rose up and the size of Geoff’s territory did with it.

Still. He was feeling significantly better and thus was rather surprised when he wandered out into their main planning room to find the other five sitting there staring at him with the most intensely grim looks on their faces.

“Wow, okay. Who died?” he asked, wandering in and plonking himself down opposite Michael. He smiled at the other man, who did not smile back, and Gavin’s own grin faded a little, worry rising up in his stomach at how annoyed he looked - properly annoyed, not the faux-anger Michael put on a lot of the time, the sort that made Gavin laugh. He didn’t like it when Michael was properly angry, because it usually meant he was _upset_ about something, and lately, for whatever reason, it had been harder and harder to stand seeing Michael upset. He wasn’t quite sure why.

“You, nearly,” Ryan replied. He had the mask off now and looked well annoyed too.

“Key word being _nearly_ ,” Gavin pointed out.

“Dude,” Geoff cut in, and Gavin turned to find him looking genuinely angry as well. “Ryan and Ray told me what happened. That guy could have slit your throat in a second if Ray hadn’t moved as fast as he did.”

“It was a pretty fucking close call, Gav,” Ray added - he was lounging back in his chair sharpening a knife as usual, but even his voice had something flat in it, something worried. “I mean, Jesus, you’re acting like it didn’t even happen. Weren’t you scared at all?”

“No?” Gavin supplied

“There is something very wrong with you,” Jack muttered.

“I mean, I knew you guys were coming,” Gavin pointed out. “And you did, so I don’t see what the issue is.”

“The _issue_ , birdbrain, is what happens next time we’re not there,” Geoff snapped, getting up from his chair and coming around to Gavin’s side of the table, forcing him to tilt his head back to look up at him. “What happens if someone grabs you and we can’t find you quick enough? Or we’re not there to see it happen and go after you right away? What happens next time Ray’s just a bit slower?”

“So what?” Gavin shot back - feeling a bit attacked now, because it wasn’t exactly like he _asked_ for it to happen, seriously. “You want me to just stay back at the base all the time, work from here? Because-“

“I want you to fucking learn to defend yourself,” Geoff replied. “And I don’t mean that shit you did last time trying to get Ryan to teach you to throw you a knife. I mean actual proper self defence. Hell, we should have taught you years ago.”

Gavin stared at him, aghast.

It wasn’t like the subject hadn’t been brought up before, after any of these little incidents occurred. Dan had tried to teach him the basics of a gun once, Ray too, but it hadn’t really clicked with him. Neither had any of his wrestling matches with Michael or Geoff where they tried to give him a few pointers. At the core of it he just wasn’t very interested; computers were his thing, not the kicking-ass and taking-names side of business, and he thought the others had gotten that into their heads by now. You wanted to crack a code or hack a computer, he was your guy. You wanted a _fight_ won? HAHAHA no.

“You want to teach me to fight,” he repeated, and Geoff nodded earnestly.

Gavin stared at him for a moment longer and then broke down laughing at the idea of it. Geoff’s face clouded over and he reached out and slapped Gavin upside the head.

“I’m _serious_ , asshole!”

“Ow, ow, you can’t hit me, I have a head injury!”

“You want me to fart on you instead? Michael, hold him down!”

Gavin squirmed out of his chair, squawking - Michael didn’t move, though, just glanced over at him, face still steely and cold. It made Gavin falter to look at, and he drew to a halt even as Geoff strode over to him and grabbed his arms. 

“I mean it, idiot,” he said, shaking him lightly. “This shit has been happening too much lately. I’m not gonna lose you just because you don’t know how to shoot a gun or break out of a zip tie. At the very least it’ll give you a chance to get away. You being so helpless isn’t just on you, it puts pressure on _us_ to take care of you. Get it? We slip up and next time you might not just have a _head injury_ ,” he reached out and tapped at the uninjured side of Gavin’s face, making him flinch, “You’ll be dead. As _dicks_. Dead as big, fat, veiny pulsating penises-“

“Okay, okay, I don’t need the graphic details.”

“It’s not fair on any of us. Get it?”

“I got it.” Gavin glanced up at him and smiled, knowing the deep care that Geoff’s scolding sprang from. And it wouldn’t hurt to humour him; the idea of him getting any sort of good at holding his own still seemed ridiculous, but if they wanted to try, that was on them. 

Geoff seemed satisfied. He reached out and ruffled Gavin’s hair before heading on out of the room, Jack and Ray trailing out after him. Ryan followed, pausing in front of Gavin.

“I’ll make a man out of you,” he declared, and Gavin laughed and attempted to assume the crane form only to wobble terribly, still out of it from his head wound. Ryan rolled his eyes and steadied him before glancing back over his shoulder at Michael and heading out.

Following his gaze, Gavin frowned.

Michael was still sitting at the table scowling at him. He hadn’t said a word the entire meeting and Gavin was starting to grow concerned.

“Michael?” he walked over to him, suddenly feeling oddly hesitant. “Are you mad at me, Michael.”

“Of course I’m fucking mad at you,” Michael snapped, finally getting up off his chair and rounding on him. There was something ragged in the way the words burst from his throat, not like his usual yelling. “You nearly got yourself killed!”

“I didn’t ‘get myself’ anything,” Gavin protested, “Not like I asked the bastards to kidnap me, did I?”

“Geoff’s right. You need to learn to fucking take care of yourself.”

“I have other skills Michael,” Gavin said, perhaps a little more snippily than he intended; he couldn’t recall the last time Michael had been properly mad at him and it was making him uneasy-

Uneasy because, in fact, lately they had been closer than they’d ever been. Since he came over from England three years ago to properly join the crew he and Michael had clicked instantly. They’d been close friends for ages now but over the last few months or so something had shifted, something that Gavin was perhaps too afraid to really think about yet. The last few times he’d gotten himself in trouble it’d been Michael who’d come in guns blazing to rescue him, making quick work of whoever was responsible. Fussing over Gavin when they did get him out. But he’d never reacted like this, so _angrily_ , and Gavin realised with a sinking feeling that yes, actually, today had been a much closer call than usual.

As it was, Michael snorted loudly. “Yeah? Next time someone comes at you are you gonna _type_ them to death?” He stepped up into Gavin’s personal space and Gavin shifted, standing his ground, trying to ignore the sudden flutter in the pit of his stomach at the other’s proximity.

As it was, Michael lifted his hand and brought it up to gently hold Gavin’s chin, tilting his head sideways so he could get a look at where the bat hit him. The bruise still hurt spectacularly even after he’d put an ice pack on it, and he was sure it must look awful. He felt too self conscious suddenly as Michael’s fingers brushed over the wound, gentle and cool against the relentless hot throb of pain. Given their jobs it was rare for any of them to be without a black eye or injury of some sort - he was usually the exception - it wasn’t like he hadn’t done the same to Michael a hundred times before.

But there was something different in it now, an odd, desperate sort of worry in Michael’s eyes that Gavin had never seen before, and he licked his lips nervously, unsure how to interpret it. Michael’s eyes dropped to his mouth before he let go of Gavin’s face quickly, before reaching out to jab at his chest.

“You don’t need self defence lessons, you need a fucking bodyguard,” Michael muttered, and gave Gavin a long, almost speculative look; Gavin stared back at him, confused and a bit unsure what was going through the other’s head. He wanted to say something but wasn’t sure what.

After a moment Michael shook his head and sighed, seeming to push his anger away in place of his usual fond irritation.

“Come on then, idiot. Let’s go get bevved. You look like you need a drink.”

Gavin nodded, brightening, eager to put the day’s events from his mind. He grinned when Michael put an arm around his shoulders, leading him out, wrapping his own arm around the other man’s waist. And for the rest of the night, drinking with Michael - laughing with him - he pretty much forgot about the entire conversation and the others’ plans. Half-thought maybe they would forget about it as well, would have the idea and then never really get onto it the way they had a few times before.

Not the case.

.

**1\. Geoff**

“Congrats, it’s been a fucking hour and you still haven’t been able to get anywhere even close to getting them off.”

“Look, Geoffers, _patience._ It’s not like I’ve ever actually had to try and get out of these things before.”  
  
Geoff gave a dubious look. “Why’s that?”

“Well I’ve never bloody had to have these things on for an hour.”

Geoff just sighed, and Gavin just kept attempting to twist his hands - probably close to dislocating his shoulder at this point - and making a wide variety of strange frustrated noises.

“Fucking Christ, okay,” Geoff eventually said, throwing his hands up. “This is ridiculous. You are ridiculous. I’m pretty sure you’re just making it worse - okay, okay stop, before I have to fucking send you to Caleb with dislocated shoulders and wrists.”

Geoff stood up from the chair he was lounged across, walking over and sighing. “Remember, it’s in that clasp. You want that to break, that’s the best way.”

Gavin huffed, throwing his arms down dramatically in front of him. “I know that, for Christ’s sake, you keep telling me. How do I _break it?”_

“With force, that’s probably the best way. I was hoping you would actually figure it out, but then again this has been a wonderful past hour watching you fail fucking miserably. Okay, look, try this.”

Geoff got in front of him, mimicking Gavin’s current stance. “There’s plenty of ways to do this, but I’ll see if you can at least do this. Okay, okay get the locking mechanism right in the centre between your hands, above your thumbs. Pull it tighter with your teeth, as tight as you can.”

Gavin’s eyes narrowed. “While that probably makes sense, I don’t know if I trust you because you’ve found this whole thing funny this last hour.”

Geoff straightened up at that, and Gavin didn’t miss the way his jaw tensed. “I definitely don’t find the fact you can’t get out of fucking zip ties in under at least five minutes funny. I definitely don’t find it funny that we might not get to you in time, that the only way something worse won’t happen to you than yesterday might rely on you being able to get out of these ties, and you can’t fucking do it.”

Gavin tightened the cuffs without a reply. Geoff’s shoulders relaxed, and he nodded to himself. “Right, so you’re going to bring your arms down like this.”

He demonstrated slowly, bringing his arms above his head and bringing them down so that his wrists came down to his stomach, his elbows out to the side.

“When you come down,” Geoff advised, “Think about bringing your shoulder blades together.”  
  
He then repeated the motion with the actual speed at which should be done, and Gavin began to mimic it, stopping short every time just before hitting his stomach. 

“For the love of fucking Christ, Gav, just do it. I promise there’s a low risk you’ll break anything other than the zip ties"

“Low risk?”

“Look, anything is possible with you. Just fucking go for it already.”

Gavin bit his lip, but brought his arms up and hesitated only a second before bringing them down hard.

The impact of his wrists slamming against his stomach registered first - and ow, okay, that did kind of hurt - but then he realised each hand was against either hip.

“I got it!” he cheered, a bit too loud but Christ, it was about damn time that he was able to get his wrists apart. 

Geoff smiled. “Yeah, after an hour. That’s only one technique, by the way. There’s plenty more. Here, we’ll try doing it behind your back next. Maybe we’ll aim for thirty minutes.”

While he walked over to get another zip tie, Gavin absent-mindedly massaged his wrists. 

“You might not be able to get the leverage to get your arms up like that to give yourself that force, which is why we need to learn the other techniques. But, honestly, I have better things to do today than be here for the whole day, but we are definitely coming back to this,” Geoff told him, getting out the zip tie and walking over.

“So, how’s the hangover?” he asked, as he crouched beside Gavin and pulled his arms behind his back to tie his hands.

Gavin shot him a raised eyebrow. 

“Now you ask?” he retorted. “Instead of, y’know, when you dragged me out of bed at seven in the damn morning and tied these bloody things on my wrists.”

“Now I ask,” Geoff responded, shrugging. 

“It’s fine. It could be better if I actually, you know, got to sleep.”

“Not my problem you got home so late. How was it, by the way?”

“Once again, you ask at an amazing time.” Geoff tightened the zip tie around his wrists, tight enough so that he had trouble rotating his hands, but of no risk to his circulation. “It was fine, it was good, I don’t remember half the night.”

“ _Really,_ because I remember you coming in to my bedroom, by the way, at fuck-knows-what-time in the morning and beaming bright as dicks about your wonderful night with Michael.”

That prompted a hazy memory, one where he was sprawled across Geoff’s bed for a few moments before the man pushed him off. 

“You were so drunk, though, couldn’t even understand you,” Geoff sighed, shaking his head, stepping back from Gavin. “But you were happy as fuck so I was wondering if Michael asked you out yet.”

Gavin stopped moving his wrists, turning his head to Geoff with his eyebrows furrowed. “Why would Michael ask me out, you nob?”

Geoff shrugged. “I’m joking,” Geoff said. “I suppose,” mumbling the last part, Gavin barely catching it. 

Gavin couldn’t even think about the zip ties for a few moments. Geoff was kidding - he had to be kidding, of course he was. Sure - sure he and Michael mucked about a lot, and sure they would frequently pass joke-flirting comments to one another   - but, but there wasn’t anything to it.

And, okay, maybe Gavin had drunk himself stupid on a few occasions - like when Michael’s touch had lingered for maybe a bit too long when checking Gavin for injuries after heist-gone-sideways, or the timewhen they had all sat down as a crew and organised a movie night, and Michael had called the seat next to Gavin - practically on top of him by the end of the movie, and throwing bad pickup lines at him every ten minutes. And yet, Gavin always ended up at the same conclusion. Michael was absolutely not hitting on him. He couldn’t be.

“Come on, Lover Boy,” Geoff prompted. “I want to fucking finish before the sun sets, thanks.”

It only took Gavin about six minutes to figure out how to get of the zip ties that time.

.

**2\. Ryan**

Ryan was the next to approach Gavin, striding into his computer lab with a determined look on his face. Gavin took one look and shook his head.

“If you’re here to tie me up, the answer is no,” he began, and made an industrious show of typing. “I’m busy doing very important, serious work.”

“You’re on Reddit,” Ryan replied, rolling his eyes, “I can see it reflected in the window behind you. Come on, I promise there’ll be no tying up involved.”

Gavin groaned, but got up and followed him out into a small courtyard in the middle of the base. His eyes lit up when Ryan reached into his belt and pulled out a knife, handing it to him hilt-first.

“Oh ho ho ho,” Gavin said, taking it eagerly. “Are we-”

“No, we’re not throwing them,” Ryan replied, pulling out one of his own. “These aren’t even throwing knives, Jesus. And here I thought you were meant to be the brains of the team.”

“I’m the Computer-Brains. You’re the Murder-Brains.” He swiped a few times and Ryan ducked back and pulled a face.

“God. Okay. We need to work on this. Stop swinging that for a second and listen up.   A knife is easy to conceal, you can carry one around with you, and unlike a gun we don’t have to worry about you accidentally shooting yourself in the foot.”

“What about accidentally _dropping it_ on my foot.”

“You really inspire confidence, don’t you? Let me show you how to use that thing properly, come on.”

“How hard can it be to stab someone?” Gavin questioned, examining the knife curiously. “Pointy end goes in the other person. Just like sex.”

Ryan brought a hand up to palm his face.

“God give me patience,” he murmured. “Come on, then.”

It turned out that this was vastly more fun than sitting in Geoff’s lounge room with his hands tied in front of him trying to get free. It was more practical, for one, and Gavin was infinitely more interested in the Stabby Arts than trying to become the next Houdini. Ryan was a patient teacher, as well, and so talented with the knife himself that Gavin actually quite enjoyed the hour or so Ryan spent teaching him how to hold it properly, a few basic attacks and how to block.

“We’re going to fight now,” Ryan declared finally, after they’d stopped for a brief water break.

Gavin looked up at him and made a face. “That’s a bit scary. I don’t-”

“We’ll do it slow,” Ryan replied, squeezing his shoulder. “I promise I won’t hurt you. I just want to see you try some of the techniques I just showed you.”

Gavin gave a dubious nod, but squared up and got the knife out. True to his word, Ryan took it slowly, mostly feigning attacks and giving Gavin deliberate openings to try some of the offensive moves he’d shown him. Gavin concentrated hard - he always liked to impress Ryan and he was pretty invested in doing things right - only to be distracted when there was a movement at the courtyard door and he saw Michael slip out, leaning against the wall to fold his arms and watch them.

His presence made Gavin suddenly nervous. He missed his next block - one that should have been simple - and Ryan stumbled a bit, not expecting it. He pulled up short but Gavin had flung up an arm to protect himself when he realised the knife was coming towards him and Ryan’s blade nicked him, drawing blood.

Gavin let out a rather unholy shriek, more out of surprise than anything else, and the next thing they knew Michael was striding over to them.

“Jesus _Christ_ Ryan,” he spat, grabbing Gavin’s arm to get a look at it. “What the fuck are you doing to him?”

“Nothing! Teaching him!” Ryan looked very alarmed. He tried to nudge Michael aside to get a look but the other man stood firm. “Sorry, Gav, I-”

“It’s fine,” Gavin replied - the shock fading, he realised it didn’t actually hurt all that much, and felt a bit embarrassed both at his panic and at the scream he’d let out. “Michael, it’s-”

“Don’t move. I’m getting the first aid kit.” Michael hurried back inside and Ryan took the chance to move forward and inspect the injury himself, still looking guilty.

“I didn’t mean to- seriously, Gavin?” he cut off, as he   thumbed some of the blood away. “This barely needs a bandaid!”

“You surprised me,” Gavin said sheepishly, “Bloody promised you wouldn’t hurt me didn’t you.”

“A paper cut would hurt more than this will,” Ryan said, and laughed, glancing back towards the door. “Trust Michael to go all overprotective-Mogar on me.”

“The blood probably freaked him out,” Gavin began, bringing his arm up to lick at it. Except he frowned, because they had seen a hell of a lot of blood in their time and normally-

Normally if that had happened to any one of them Michael would have been in fits laughing at it. If Ray had bollocksed a block that badly or Geoff had released a noise of the pitch and volume that Gavin just had, Michael wouldn’t have let them hear the end of it for weeks. Would’ve told them to “suck it up” instead of rushing off to get aid. Hell, Gavin had expected him to react that way with himself as well.

Maybe it was the way Michael had looked at him after that last kidnapping incident or what Geoff had said to him the other day, but suddenly he didn’t quite know what to think. Especially since Ryan was smirking at him with a smug, knowing look.

“What?” Gavin demanded, nursing his arm. “What’s that look for?”

“Nothing,” Ryan replied, and laughed again as he turned to see Michael hurrying back over to them. “I’ll leave you to the tenders of your Prince Charming then.”

“What?” Gavin asked, but Ryan was already squeezing his shoulder and leaving with a weird sort of _wink_. What. What did that wink mean. Gavin was quickly distracted, anyway, when Michael bustled back over to him and grabbed his arm again.

“It’s really not that bad,” Gavin said.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Michael replied, and swabbed rather roughly at it with an antiseptic wipe. “Why wouldn’t you just _step back_?! Why would you throw your _arm_ up to avoid a knife coming at you.”

“Better my arm than my _face_ Michael.”

“Not if he sliced off your nose. Might be an improvement.”

Gavin clapped a hand to his heart. “Michael that was deeply hurtful. You love my nose.”

Michael scoffed, but glanced up at him oddly before turning away and moving to grab a bandage. Gavin let himself be manhandled, Michael’s touch oddly gentle as he smoothed the bandage over the cut. He held onto Gavin’s wrist a moment longer before letting go.

“I really am fine,” Gavin said, but it came out softer than he intended.

Michael seemed embarrassed; his face turned red.

“I know,” he said shortly, and whacked Gavin on the shoulder. “Go on then, go back to doing something productive.”

Gavin started away, then paused, turning back to him, feeling some odd need to say something else, to close off the conversation.

“Thank you,” he said, waving his bandaged arm, and Michael turned even redder, reaching up and rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Whatever,” he grouched, but when Gavin beamed at him he smiled back before turning and hurrying away. Michael had been curiously lovely lately and it wasn’t hard to work out why - the only problem was he didn’t want to assume in case he’d misread things horribly. Embarrassing himself by making the first move only to realise he’d misjudged the situation would be unbearably mortifying. But for now, Gavin’s own face felt oddly warm as moved back to the lab, fingers running thoughtfully over his bandaged arm. 

.

**3\. Jack**

"Please tell me you know how to get out of a chokehold," Jack sighed, standing up from the chair he'd been sitting on as they took a quick break.  
  
They've been going over how to get out of holds and grips for about half an hour. Some, Gavin knew the basics of, and others - well, flailing was his default. That, admittedly, didn't work out so well.  
  
"From the front, yeah," Gavin answered. "Thugs do the move all the time, you eventually pick it up."  
  
Jack nodded. "And from the back?"  
  
Gavin shrugged. "Eh, not so much. I mean, biting usually works. Which is absolutely damn disgusting."  
  
"Biting won't work, not with the upgraded armour some of the bigger crews have got. Here, try and do it to me," Jack ordered, and Gavin frowned before moving behind Jack to do so, placing his right arm around the man's throat, but with barely any pressure.  
  
"Okay, so best way to actually avoid someone getting this grip on you?" Jack asked him, shifting slightly to the side.  
  
Gavin frowned. "Run away as fast as you can? Hope you don't get shot?"  
  
Jack sighed. "No, you tuck your chin to your chest and don’t allow them the chance to actually get their arm around your throat. Okay, from here, you can try to just distract them. Pinch them, kick 'em if you can. It probably isn't enough to get you out of the hold, but it'll help."  
  
Gavin shifted his weight slightly, tightening his grip as he suspected Jack was about to make his move.  
  
He did, and Gavin was absolutely no match. Jack turned his head towards Gavin's own, and reached down to pinch Gavin's thigh - and got a squawk in return of that effort - and then used his left arm to reach up, under Gavin's nose, and pushed back.  
  
Gavin lost the chokehold easily. Jack flashed him a grin as Gavin went down to reach the pinched spot of skin. "Sorry, but did you see what I did?"  
  
"I bloody felt what you did. Ow," Gavin groaned, then rolled his shoulders back. "But yeah, I think so."  
  
"Okay, okay great. So I'll do it to you now, okay?" Jack asked, and Gavin nodded.  
  
"Sure, yeah, I'll be top, you watch."  
  
He was absolutely not top until about the fifth time of attempting to get out of Jack's hold. Even then, a little bit less than top, but he still managed to get out of the hold - so it was a win to him.  
  
"You're distracted," Jack told him, folding his arms and frowning down at Gavin, who had decided to take a seat on the floor.  
  
Gavin frowned. "Am I?" And, well, okay, maybe he was a bit. A little bit hard not to be when he kept catching glimpses of his arm, of the band-aid, and his mind flashed back to Michael shaking his head, calling him a “complete and utter moron” as he applied the bandage. 

And then Geoff’s words came into mind, and he sighed. “Alright, maybe,” he confessed, running a hand through his hair.

“Want to talk?” Jack offered, stepping up to him and offering him a drink of water.

Gavin took the water, smiled in thanks, but shook his head. “No, would actually rather just be strangled.”  
  
“Please remember I am trying to teach you how to _not_ get strangled,” Jack joked, throwing his hands up in surrender. “Look, if you don’t want to talk about your teenage crush on a certain someone, that’s fine, I won’t push.”

“ _Oi!_ ” Gavin spluttered, just about choking on the water. “Pricky dick,” Gavin mumbled, folding his arms petulantly.

“Asshole,” Jack retorted. “Come on, up, if it’s strangling you want, it’s clear I haven’t taught you enough.”

Gavin sighed heavily. “Awh, Jack, _no.”_

“Up, come on. It’ll get your mind off you-know who,” Jack suggested, then grabbed his arm and hauled him up. 

Gavin was about to reply, but Jack cut in. “Okay, so if someone’s got a gun to your head -”

“A bulletproof helmet?” Gavin cut in, an innocent expression taking over his face. Jack just let out a huge exhale through his nose.

“Okay, no, because we all know you wouldn’t wear it because it would mess up your hair you love so much,” Jack teased. 

“Oi, look, no - I mean, a bloody bullet would mess it up more, right? Just get me the bullet proof helmet, problem solved.”

“Ah, no, you are not getting out of this. Come on, learning this earlier probably would’ve saved your ass numerous times.”

“You guys save my ass though, all the time,” Gavin replied, a little childishly because hey, it was Jack’s fault for bringing up the topic of Michael.

“That’s the problem - what if we can’t? Besides, maybe you can surprise Michael with your new moves,” Jack said, moving to position himself behind Gavin.

Gavin grumbled under his breath, but listened closely as Jack lead him through the hold and the escape.

“Focus, Gav,” Jack warned him, and Gavin nodded.

If maybe Gavin turned the distraction of Michael into his focus - to do as Jack suggested, to surprise him, to show him that he could do it himself, he could damn well save himself - well, Jack didn’t have to know that.

.

**4\. Ray**

Ray paced behind Gavin, who was staring intently at the table about twenty metres in front of him with four tin cans on it.

“So, okay, great, you know how to get out of restraints and headlocks, know how to go stabby-stab with a knife. Which is great, it’s fucking fantastic, I’m glad you know that stuff. However, what fucking concerns me is that none of them bothered to teach you how to shoot,” Ray rambled, mostly to himself than Gavin.

“I mean, Dan did try,” Gavin replied, taking his eyes off the cans and looking at Ray.

“I’m surprised he’s still alive then,” Ray mumbled, shaking his head. 

“He _tried,_ he tried this with watermelons,” Gavin said, gesturing to the cans, to the array of guns on the table to the side of him. 

“And?”

“The watermelons remained intact,” Gavin admitted.

“Well, alright, you fucking suck. We gotta change that. Do you know anything about guns?” Ray asked, walking over to the table with the assortment of the weaponry. 

“Well, yeah. The one closest to you is an AP Pistol, the one I’m pretty sure Jack took off that Barry guy. The one next to it is a SNS Pistol - think I’ve seen that used in that crew we blew up with sticky bombs. The one next to _that_ is an Assault SMG, then there’s the Sawed-Off Shotgun, the Bullpup rifle next to _that,_ then there’s you two rifles - the Sniper and the Heavy Sniper - and, oh, surprise, it’s your damn RPG and Grenade Launcher,” Gavin listed, stepping up closer to the table with the assortment.

Ray rolled his eyes. “Okay, nice that you know something -”

“Isn’t that Michael’s Minigun?” Gavin asked, pointing to the large weapon that was being partially concealed by the cloth that had covered the table before.

“Well, I mean. It might be - but, look, he hasn’t been asking for it.” Ray shrugged, walking around to the other side of the table.

“Yes he has,” Gavin replied, a smile creeping up onto his face.

“Okay, well, I’m not his boyfriend so I don’t have to listen to him half the time.”

“I’m not his boyfriend either,” Gavin retorted, raising an eyebrow at Ray, who just smiled innocently at him.

“Fuckbuddies, if you insist then,” Ray replied, a smug expression on his face. Gavin just flipped him the middle finger.

“Okay, so what gun do you want to shoot first?” Ray asked, gesturing to the assortment. “Michael’s dick is not an option.”

“You’re all fucking terrible,” Gavin mumbled, but picked up the SNS Pistol. 

Ray just lead him back over to the best shooting spot for the cans. “Okay, just, try and shoot the can on the right.”

Gavin sighed, raising the gun and putting the can in his sights. He fired, missing the can entirely, almost shooting the one next to it.

“So, that was appalling. Wow. I’m glad at least Michael is okay at shooting, otherwise you’d both be doomed,” Ray muttered, walking up behind Gavin.

“What the hell is up with you bringing up Michael?” Gavin asked, fairly snippily and Ray shrugged. 

“Distraction. I’m fucking with you, trying to put you off. Judging by your shot then, it’s working. I know you can at least do better than that,” Ray admitted, turned to face to front of Gavin and began fixing his stance.

“Aren’t you bloody meant to help me?” 

“Shooting isn’t fucking just pointing and pulling the trigger. Well, it is. But it’s not simple, there’s fucking always going to be distractions. And right now, your emotional state with Michael is the best one, and it’s going to be used against you _both,”_ Ray told him, losing all traces of any joking tone he had. 

Gavin pressed his lips together and didn’t reply.

Ray sighed heavily, fixing up Gavin’s shot. “Look, just try now. And don’t think about banging Michael.”

Gavin fired the shot, clipping the edge of the can and knocking it off. “Better, definitely better,” Ray told him. “But you can do even better. Stop thinking about Michael behind you. Much homo. Such sex.”

Gavin laughed, moving to the next can and lining up the shot. “You’re the bloody worst.”

“Just fucking go up to him and ask to bang. Holy shit, we’ve been fucking betting on this shit for months and neither of you two fuckers have done anything. At this point, fucking Caleb has the best bet.”

“What was his bet?”

“That you’d both be too fucking shy like twelve year olds and just never get together.”

“I can’t believe you’re betting on my love life, Ray. That’s like - a betrayal of friendship. You’ve betrayed me, Ray. I don’t think we can be friends.”

“But what about X-Ray and Vav?” Ray cried dramatically. “What about Team _Lads_?”

“I’ve been kicked out of that multiple times, let’s remember.”

“That’s true, but honestly it shouldn’t even be fucking possible to fuck up so goddamn badly when playing Cops and Crooks.”

“Look, we’re all alive and have our health, and that’s what’s important,” Gavin mumbled.

“Apparently doesn’t matter to you when we’re trying to fucking get away in a speedboat. On land. _In the middle of the fucking highway.”_

Gavin laughed, losing his focus on the can. “That was a good day.”

“Maybe for you, because you only won a bet against Geoff who fucking dared you to do it. Without letting us know about it.” 

“Hey, I got a fair bit of cash from that,” Gavin defended, shrugging. 

“Should’ve gone towards buying a room for you and Michael. Honestly, that fucking frustrated tension was like - I swear to God when he was tackling you he was going to tear your clothes off too.”

“If he was going to do that, it’d to be to get a cleaner shot to my vital organs,” Gavin responded, aiming up the shot again.

“Keep telling yourself that.” Ray stood to the side, then frowned. “Nope, okay, place your feet - there we go. Focus, alright? Don’t listen to me and my big fucking mouth - you need to focus on this shot, or it’s never going to work.”

Gavin huffed, nearly pulling the trigger until Ray spoke up. “You two are going to bang, right? Like, that’s going to be a -”

Gavin did his best to ignore him, firing the shot. Better, hitting the can, but still not a direct shot.

“We’re going to be here for a while,” Ray sighed, doing his best to help Gavin with the next shot. And then moving to distract him again.

It continued for a few more rounds of cans, improvement showing but the distraction still obvious. 

Eventually, Ray changed it to the human pop up targets. Ray continued with the distractions, but Gavin was working to block them out - showing in his scoring, getting closer and closer to the higher point markers.

“Okay, final round,” Ray finally told him, after what had felt like an endless couple of hours of target practice with the human pop ups. 

Gavin reloaded, aiming down the sight for his target.  
  
“So, you like him, right?” Ray asked, just as Gavin fired the first shot. A shoulder hit.

“Like, big gay homo like-like,” Ray continued, as Gavin shot the next one. The lower chest.

“Come on, you want to bone him so bad. What’s that word you use? Shag? Bang?” 

The stomach.

“Just admit it.” Ray’s voice was suddenly softer now. Less teasing, more sincere. “You like him.”

“Yeah?” Gavin spat out, wound up by this point despite his best efforts not to be. “Maybe I do, X-Ray. So bloody what?”

He fired again, a cluster of quick shots. Lowered his arm, painting, but couldn’t help but grin when he finally focused and took in the marks. Directly on the dick area.

Ray grinned at him. “Okay, great. Want to try the rifle?”

Gavin glowered at him. “Go hug a cactus, you prick.”

.

**5\. Michael**

Michael was the last to come to him.

It was getting late, and as the sun fell and the base slowly emptied as the others went home, Gavin had retreated outside to sit on the bench in the courtyard. It was a bit too cold to be out without a jacket, but he barely noticed, sitting out in the fading light. Too many thoughts swirling in his head since Ray’s ‘lesson’ earlier that day.

The other’s words - and his own response - had unsettled him. 

_You like him._

_Maybe I do_.

It had been coming forever, and maybe it shouldn’t have been all that much of a revelation. But somehow admitting it to someone - even in a half-joking way - was a step he wasn’t quite sure he’d been ready to take yet, and he felt a little like he’d just thrown himself in the deep end without a life jacket.

And the fact that the others had all been teasing him about it so much - had been _betting_ on it, apparently - made him feel even more like all eyes were on him suddenly, like there was some sort of pressure to - to _do_ something, to make this all work out-

 _What if it doesn’t work out_?

He drummed his fingers anxiously against the bench, pensive and tense, all the usual fears about making a move - any move - rising up once more. When someone slid onto the bench beside him, their arm pressed against his a sudden warmth against the evening chill, he jumped a little.

“Alright, Gav?”

Michael. Great. Gavin glanced towards him and forced a small smile. The part of him that was always happy to see Michael lit up unbidden, but suddenly he wasn’t quite sure if he really did want to be around him right now or not. He had more than enough on his mind already.

“I’m fine,” he replied, but Michael was looking at him strangely, head tilted a little. He looked good in the evening light, Gavin thought absently, the retreating sunlight painting his skin with a golden glow that made his hair look redder than usual.

“Heard Ray taught you some stuff earlier today,” Michael continued then, something slow and deliberate in it, and Gavin frowned a bit, suddenly uncertain where this was heading.

“Everyone’s been teaching me a lot of things lately.”

“So I’ve noticed,” Michael said, and then paused, expectantly.

Gavin turned to him.

“Is it your turn then?” he asked. It came out snippily, something in it that made Michael glance over at him, head tilting, eyes narrowing like he could tell something was bothering him. Frustration rose up in Gavin’s chest suddenly, because it wasn’t as though Michael hadn’t been acting flustered as all hell around him lately too, and that had been fine - that had been _better_ \- when they were both in the same boat dancing around each other. But now Michael was calm, too calm, and it bothered Gavin suddenly. Made him unsure where he stood with the other man.

“Yeah, actually,” Michael said, and the next thing Gavin knew the other man’s hand was closing around his wrist, tugging him up off the bench. He was too surprised to protest when Michael led him inside, back into the base, into the open space of the common area - quiet with all the others gone home. Gavin was suddenly acutely aware of their absence, of the silence around them and the fact that the two of them were completely alone.

“Michael?” he began, unsure.

Michael let go of his wrist and Gavin reached to rub it, suddenly missing the contact.

“The others have been teaching you a whole lot of fancy things,” Michael said, scoffing a bit. “Knifework, shooting a gun, sure, sure, that’s great and all. But you know what wins a fight?”

“What?” Gavin asked.

“Punch to the nose,” Michael said. He mimed one at Gavin, who dodged back a bit, and grinned. “Nice big target you’ve got there.”

“Shut up,” Gavin laughed, startled.

Michael snickered. “I mean it though. Hit ‘em first and then leg it. He who strikes first wins.”

“Like Star Wars,” Gavin supplied.

“Exactly. Except we’re talking punching, not shooting. Show me your form then.” Michael held up a hand and Gavin made a fist and half heartedly punched at his hand. He was tired, and still unsure from all that had gone on, and not particularly in the mood to fight again, especially with Michael.

The other man frowned.

“Come on, put some fucking effort in. I‘m trying to teach you here.”

He gave Gavin that odd, calm look again - so steady and implacable that it annoyed Gavin again, annoyed him that Michael seemed so sure - about what, he didn’t know - when he himself was slowly eating himself up inside with whether or not he was he should be making a move. Determination renewed, he punched Michael’s open hand again, harder this time.

“Better. Come on. Punch with your knuckles, first two, not the flats of your fingers.”

Again.

“Good. Quick and compact, come on.”

The slap of knuckles on flesh was harder this time. Michael shook his hand, grinning.

“That’s good. But you gotta keep your wrist straight or you’ll hurt yourself.”

Before Gavin quite knew what was going on Michael was by his side, too close - one hand closing around his wrist, folding over his fingers to press them into a fist, extending his arm out. The other resting lightly on his back.

He went stiff under the other’s touch, heart suddenly going a mile a minute. Painfully aware of his own breathing and how Michael was practically pressed against him, so close he could feel the steady thump of the other’s heart against his shoulder.

“Michael,” he said softly. So worn down now, tired and unsure and feeling suddenly way too bloody vulnerable.

“Come on Gav,” Michael prompted - something almost teasing in it, and Gavin scowled again - because it wasn’t funny now, it really wasn’t, not when he was starting to think that Michael knew something he didn’t and it hadn’t been like this before, before they were _both_ uncertain and it wasn’t fair that the moment he started to think about things seriously Michael suddenly turned into Mr Confidence and now Gavin didn’t know where he stood with him. Where things were going now. If he was reading into things because of what Ray had said to him and maybe he’d misjudged things all along.

Annoyed, he lashed out, shaking Michael’s hand from his wrist and punching hard, careful to keep his wrist straight.

“Again?” Michael prompted, stepping back a bit. And then, at Gavin’s second blow, “Good. That’s good, boi.”

Gavin turned to him, breathing hard, only for Michael to say - casually, still looking at Gavin’s hands - “I might’ve overheard some of you and Ray’s conversation earlier.”

Gavin froze. 

 _Oh God_ , _he knows_ , he realised with dawning horror - didn’t know where to look when Michael’s eyes flicked up to his and a smile Gavin couldn’t decipher tugged at his lips.

“He’s right you know,” he said, and took a step closer again. “When you’re out there it won’t be like practicing. There’ll be a lot of _distractions_.”

 _Too close._ He didn’t know where to look. Stared resolutely at the floor, at Michael’s scuffed shoes. At his own fist he could see clenched by his side to keep from shaking.

“Michael…”

Too much was hanging between them. And Michael had heard, Michael knew, he _knew_ , but now he was silent until his hand gently touched Gavin’s elbow, waiting for him to finally look up - hesitant - he was smiling, Gavin realised, not a mean smile. Something small and comforting and almost shy in it.

“What are you worried about, Gav?” he asked.

God. So many things. _That you don’t like me either. How much it will crush me if I fuck this up. That even if… even if something happens, it might not work out_. But Michael was standing so close now that Gavin could see every detail of him, his freckles and the little scar on his chin where he’d been nicked with some glass once and the cautious gentleness in his eyes.

He opened his mouth but couldn’t speak, couldn’t force the words out - this was so much easier drunk - needed Michael to speak first, to confirm what he was so sure he knew but still couldn’t quite dare to hope for.

Michael seemed to realise his hesitance, and laughed again. He folded his hand around Gavin’s fingers, curling his hand into a fist again. 

“You know what I’m worried about?” he asked. “You care about people, in this job. You get too close and they can get taken away from you. We’ve seen it happen. It’s dangerous.” He lifted Gavin’s hand up, calloused thumb running over his knuckles.

“But apparently you know how to take care of yourself now, so…”

He trailed off, eyebrows rising, and Gavin stared at him - _is that an invitation, or…?_  

It felt like something that had been building up too long between them was coming to a head now. Like Michael, in overhearing what he had, had found his certainty, confirmed his own suspicions. But holding his gaze now, Gavin realised that maybe he, too - for all his show of confidence now - needed Gavin to say it first as well, and something about that gave him confidence suddenly now too, that under this exterior calm now Michael was just as unsure as he was. As unsure as they’d both been all along.

That settled something in him, like they were both on the same page. He licked his lips nervously and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get the words out Michael was suddenly turning away with a slightly nervous laugh - he’d taken too long, he realised, had made the silence awkward.

“Unless I’ve misjudged things horribly, this is the part where you either chicken out or ask me if I want to go for a drink,” he said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. “And not a friend sort of drink.”

The words hit Gavin like a rush of relief, like a dam had been broken, to finally have it said out loud. To _know_.

“I thought it might be the part where I kiss you instead,” he blurted out instead - confident now, or at least brave enough to fake it - and Michael turned to him, grinning, shoulders slumping to reveal he was just as relieved.

“You could do that too,” he replied, with another laugh. “God knows I’ve been waiting long fucking enough.”

Gavin grinned, wide and silly and a bit hysterical. Part of him couldn’t quite believe this was happening - he hadn’t exactly woken up this morning thinking _yes, today is the day I will make a move -_ felt almost like he was in a dream as he stepped forward and finally took Michael’s face in his hands. He started to lean in only to pause, hesitating only an inch away as he suddenly wondered if this _was_ a dream, or some sort of mistake; it seemed too good to be bloody true. He froze a bit awkwardly and Michael rolled his eyes and then laughed, so close Gavin could feel the breath of it against his lips.

“Oh my God, you idiot. Did you just chicken out on our first kiss.”

“No,” Gavin began to splutter, only to break off with a startled noise when Michael reached up and grabbed him, yanking him down the last two centimetres - hands fisting tightly in the fabric of his jacket as he held him desperately close - Gavin froze, taking a moment to process it, and-

 _Okay, definitely,_ definitely _not dreaming_ , he thought, and let his eyes slip shut and his hands drop to Michael’s shoulders to steady him as he kissed back.

.

**+1**

Geoff was never going to let him go out in the field again after this.

Sure, he’d managed to go a month, nearly two without further incident. But now here Gavin was, kidnapped _again_ \- their trip to blow up a rival crew’s warehouse hadn’t gone so well when Gavin’s information was wrong and it turned out the guys were at home. Gavin had been needed on site to hack into a garage - they wanted to steal a particularly awesome armoured van the other crew had in their possession - and they’d ended up split up when the gang got the jump on them. Michael, who’d been keeping an eye on him, had been fighting with one of the guys when another grabbed Gavin and dragged him off.

And that was what was worrying him now; Michael had been outnumbered when Gavin was hauled away, and there was a churning sick feeling in his gut at the thought that he might have been overpowered-

Might have been _hurt_ -

It wasn’t just Michael who worried about him now. It went the other way too. Since they got together - or whatever it was they’d been doing these last few months; they hadn’t put a name to it but it was _good_ , whatever it was - Gavin had been a little more concerned about him whenever they went off on dangerous jobs. They laughed off the usual bruises and scrapes - par for the course in their job - but he was living fully now part of why they’d taken so long to make a move and get together. That fear that you could lose someone you were letting yourself care so deeply about was awful.

And here he was now, hands zip tied behind his back, sitting on the floor against the wall in the back of the rocking van as it sped away down the road.

He needed to get out of here.

The fact that these guys had taken him rather than killed him meant they wanted leverage, but things had happened so fast that he had no idea if or when the others would come after him. If they wanted information - or to hold him hostage - it wouldn’t put Geoff in a good situation.

And he needed to get out and find Michael. Know if he was okay.

The van bumped over another pothole and he grimaced. Sitting on the floor was not great. There was one other guard in the back here with him, but he was standing by the van doors, occasionally opening them to glance out. He seemed concerned they were being followed, which was promising for Gavin. With any luck the others were already in hot pursuit, he thought - and his hopes rose higher when there was a rattle of gunfire and the man slammed the doors shut quickly.

His knife was still in his boot. They hadn’t searched him aside from initially checking to make sure he had no gun.

 _Okay. You can do this_. It was exactly what they’d trained for - and God, he’d complained at the time but _thank fuck for all those self defence lessons_ because right now, he knew exactly what to do - in theory, of course. Putting it in practice was another matter entirely.

He struggled with the zip ties, pulling them tight before beginning to yank, trying to break the clasp. The angle was awkward and his frantic jerks made the guard turn to look at him. Gavin fell still - trying to paste the most scared look possible on his face, but only ending up looking sort of constipated - the man turned away, seeming to think he was bound tightly enough.

It took him a few tries to get enough force into his twisting and tugging, but finally he felt the latch of the zip ties snap free as he pulled them taut and yanked. He felt a sudden swell of pride at himself - he’d half thought he wouldn’t be able to do it - before acting fast. He pulled the knife out of his boot, gripping it tightly in his hand. His palms were slippery now, sweating as he started to get nervous, because getting free was one thing.

Fighting off an armed dude was quite another.

The element of surprise was probably the only advantage he had here; and without letting himself second guess himself any further, he leaped to his feet and charged at the man.

The guy was quick to react. He saw Gavin move in the corner of his eye and turned to meet him, ducking low and grabbing Gavin around the waist, using the momentum of his charge to flip him over and slam him onto the floor of the van.

Gavin let out a wheezing groan as the wind was knocked out of him. Startled from the impact, for a moment all he could do was lie there as the guy came up over him and seized him by the throat, dragging him upright a bit.

Gavin panicked for a moment before remembering what Jack had taught him. He gripped two of the man’s fingers and snapped them back, breaking his grip, then punched him hard in the nose - _first two knuckles, keep your wrist straight_ \- and scrambled free as the guy fell back with a shout, blood streaming down his face. 

At that moment the van swung sideways, taking a sudden turn, and Gavin stumbled and hit the wall, struggling to brace himself and keep from falling to the floor. The man got to his feet, enraged now, and charged Gavin just as the van turned the other way, making both of them stagger to the opposite side. They fell onto each other, Gavin against the wall, the man pinned over him - both of them off balance.

Gavin realised he still had the knife in his hand and _oh God_ , he thought, _okay, I should really stab him or something_ , but it turned out that even in the heat of the moment the idea of sticking a fucking sharp bit of metal into another human being was not as easy as it sounded in theory. He couldn’t bring himself to do it, but - as the van suddenly lurched forward into motion again - he charged forward, using the inertia of the vehicle to barrel into the other man and send him back, back, back-

Right out the back of the van, Gavin reaching to release the doors just as they hit them. For a terrible moment he swung outside too - saw the tarmac rushing by, buildings speeding past dizzy-fast beside them - but he caught the rail on the door and clung to it as tightly as he could, managing to pull himself back inside even as the man fell out onto the road with a scream, skidding quite a long way - Gavin grimaced at the streak of blood left behind as he skinned himself against the road’s surface.

The door swung shut again and he fell back onto his ass on the van’s floor, breathing heavily, heart pounding. _Jesus Christ_ , he thought, and wondered if the guy was dead, if he’d just killed someone.

He didn’t get much time to rest. The van took a series of sharp, sudden turns, swinging back and forth - started bumping everywhere as, presumably, they moved offroad. Gavin was thrown this way and that, but realised that this strange route meant they were definitely being pursued - had probably just been cut off at the road -

Which meant the rest of the Fake AH Crew had caught up.

Suddenly the vehicle came to an abrupt halt, throwing him to the floor again. He grimaced, picking himself back up, and paused as he heard a great commotion of gunshots and screaming outside.

 _Best get my arse out of here_ , he thought, a little worried. He pushed the van door open and hopped out-

Right into the arms of the driver, who had come around and was about to open the door. He grabbed Gavin, spinning him around and getting him in a chokehold, twisting one of his arms up behind his back.

“Don’t shoot!” he yelled, dragging Gavin around the side of the van, quite literally using him as a human shield.

Gavin’s eyes fell on Michael first. He was standing with the others - they’d stopped the van, it seemed, and were about to take out the driver when he moved to take Gavin hostage. There was a nasty bruise blooming over one of Michael’s eyes, his lip fat and puffy where it had split - but he was _alive_ , Gavin realised, with a rush of relief-

And looked very, very fucking unimpressed as he stood pointing a gun at the guy holding Gavin. Geoff, beside him, looked pretty fed up as well. They all did.

A standoff. Gavin staring helplessly at them, the man behind him holding him tightly.

“Don’t shoot,” he repeated, “I mean it. You can’t hit me without hitting him.”

“Gavin,” Geoff said slowly, meeting his eyes and giving a small smile. “Have you ever seen the movie _Speed_?”

“Jesus bleedin’ Christ, Geoff,” Gavin snapped, “If you shoot me I swear to God I will crash your car. _All_ your cars.”

“But Gav, it could be my Keanu Reeves moment,” Geoff began. “Shoot the hostage-”

The man behind him was trembling now, confused by their calm banter. His grip around Gavin’s neck tightened and Gavin saw Ryan’s eyes flicker behind his mask, moving down to Gavin’s hand - where, he realised, he was still clutching the knife. He glanced at Michael and the other man gave him an encouraging nod - a little smile, too. 

And that reassured Gavin, grounded him suddenly even as he struggled to breathe.

He took his chance.

Bringing his free hand up, he slammed down on the elbow around his neck, breaking the grip. He gasped, sucking in a deep breath of sweet, sweet air, before swinging the knife around to slash it across the hand still twisting his arm.

The man let go with a screech and Gavin kicked back at him, foot coming down hard on his knee. He crumpled to the floor and Gavin stumbled free. Michael lunged forward and caught him, dragging him back to the safety of the group where Ryan grabbed his shoulder as well. He stood, panting, staring at the man lying on the floor clutching his arm in slight disbelief.

There was a moment of stunned silence before the other five all began clapping politely.

“Nice, Vav,” Ray said, shooting him a thumbs up, his other hand keeping his gun trained on the man. “Ten out of ten.”

“Thanks.”

“Now time to put my part into action.” Ray tried to hand him the gun but Gavin shook his head.

“No thanks. That delightful action sequence just then was a big fat case of Needs Must. I’ll stick to my computers and you can stick to your guns whenever possible.”

“Fair enough,” Ray replied with a grin, before turning and shooting the man.

Gavin jumped a bit at the loud gunshot; he’d long gotten used to them but his nerves were a bit rattled from the adrenaline and the worry about Michael he’d held the entire time. As it was, Michael noticed, and curled a hand around the back of Gavin’s head, turning him towards him.

“You okay?” he asked quietly, hand moving to cup Gavin’s cheek instead.

Gavin nodded, flashing Michael a reassuring smile. “I’m fine, boi.”  
  
“Yeah?” Michael asked, his brows furrowed. “You sure?”

“I was worried about _you_ , you mong, I’m absolutely fine,” Gavin admitted, and Michael flashed him a smile in return.

“It’s going to take more than these bastards to take me down, Gav.” Michael patted his cheek, just as the others began to stand around them.

Gavin was watching Michael, though, didn’t take his eyes off him even as Geoff began to speak. 

For a moment - for a single, small moment - Gavin faintly imagined Michael was about to kiss him. In front of the others, who, as far as Gavin knew, were still unaware about how close the two had gotten. Gavin had begged Michael not to tell, after all, hoping he’d cheat one of the others out of winning their bet. Michael had easily agreed.

“So, nice job on the roadkill,” Geoff congratulated, and Gavin turned to him sharply when the works sank in.

“He died?” 

“Only after we ran him over because we had to chase after your dumb ass,” Ray piped up, waving a dismissive hand.

“Made the car launch up and everything. We were fucking _flying,”_ Ryan added.

“Ryan’s still in the air,” Ray muttered, snickering, and the others joined - except for Ryan, who just sighed and pulled out his knife, casually tossing it into the air. Ray’s snickers died down easily enough.

“The body is going to be annoying to clean up,” Jack mumbled. “Might just leave it for the cops.”

“Sorry?” Gavin offered, and Michael gently elbowed him in the ribs. 

“Nothing to be sorry for, dude,” Michael reassured him.

“Speaking of, how _did_ you manage to push him out?” Ryan asked, moving to put his hand on Gavin’s shoulder again.

“With great ease,” Gavin shrugged, and Ryan moved his hand in favour of palming his face as he sighed heavily.

“You’re a fucking _stick,_ and judging by the impact of when we hit the guy, he was like a fucking tree, dude,” Geoff pointed out. “No way that was easy.”

“Well, they had me tied up, so that _wasn’t_ as easy,”  
  
Geoff shot him a curious look. “Please tell me you actually got out of those in less than like, five minutes.”

Gavin grinned, a little smug. “‘Course, Geoffrey. Wasn’t a problem.”

Geoff let out a long exhale. “Thank fucking Christ, glad something actually got into that hollow head of yours.” 

“Seemed like a fair amount stuck in there, actually,” Jack said, giving Gavin a thumbs up.   “Nice job with getting out of that. You won’t even need us anymore to save your ass.”

Gavin laughed, shaking his head. “Always going to, you dope.”

“Yeah Jack, you absolute buggerin’ pleb,” Geoff teased, changing his voice to the mocking one of Gavin’s accent. They bickered back and forth, the others joining in. Except for Michael.

Gavin turned to him, the both of them smiling at each other.

“Proud of you, Gav,” Michael said, flinging his right arm around the back of Gavin’s neck.

“Thanks for the fist thing,” Gavin replied, weakly mimicking the punching action.

“The fist thing?” 

“Yeah, the - you know,” he trailed off, instead just repeating the action. 

“Gavin, do you mean _punching?”_

Gavin lit up, smile widening as the word came back to him. “ _That’s_ it. I knew that. Brain fart.”

Ray took the opportunity to join the conversation. “No, Michael, he means the fisting thing. You know, the things you guys want to do to eac-”

“Shut the fuck up, Ray,” Michael cut in, glaring at him. Ray just gave him his best shit-eating grin. 

Michael turned back to look at Gavin, his smile returning. “You sure you’re okay?”

Gavin nodded, grinning reassuringly at Michael. He didn’t even think about it - just reached up with his right hand, lacing his and Michael’s fingers together. 

His eyes flickered to the others, for only a moment, and he realised they were staring at their hands. He berated himself immediately - _stupid, stupid, you’ve blown it -_ and went to move his fingers out of the grasp, already making up some stupid excuse that he’d hit his head.

Michael let him at first, but then he suddenly grabbed Gavin’s hands, turning him so they faced each other. And the damn bastard just grinned before one hand moved behind Gavin’s neck and suddenly they were kissing.

_Right in front of the others._

At that moment, Gavin didn’t care. He didn’t care about the despairing groans from everyone except Geoff, who cheered in victory and yelled “ _pay up, motherfuckers!”_ That didn’t matter to him - not at that moment, not when Michael was kissing him and he was kissing back and it was perfect, as it always was.

Michael gently pulled at Gavin’s bottom lip with his teeth, and then broke away entirely with a smug smile. Gavin was pretty sure he looked a bit flustered, and didn’t dare turn to the others.

“You couldn’t have waited until tomorrow,” Jack sighed, his shoulders hunching forward. 

Ryan elbowed him in the ribs. 

“Please,” he replied, “I think they’ve done that before.”

Michael shrugged. “Yep.”

“Fuck, nope, it was today. We saw it today. You all fucking lost, I won, pay up,” Geoff said, using his ‘leader’ voice. The others sighed in annoyance.

“You going half with us?” Michael asked him, gesturing to Gavin and himself. 

“Fuck no,” Geoff replied, shaking his head. “You didn’t bet.”

“Because we were the ones you were betting on, you prick,” Gavin said, and turned to him. Geoff shot him an amused look.

“Still counts, buddy,” Geoff responded, snickering. 

“So it’s official? The big gay homo like-like is official, right?”   Ray asked, and Gavin sighed.

“Sure, why not? Don’t think I’ve officially asked, though,” Michael said, spinning Gavin back around. “Gavin David Free, will you be my boyfriend?”

Gavin pulled a face, feeling his cheeks flush. “Of course, you dope.” 

“Okay, fucking great, now we’re all alive and fine and whatever, let’s go get something to eat. It’s on me,” Geoff cheered, leading them back to the car.

“It better fucking be,” Jack muttered to Geoff. He patted Gavin’s shoulder on the way past. The others passed them, all shooting grins and encouraging thumbs-ups to Gavin and Michael.

“And Gavin,” Geoff yelled over his shoulder. “I expect you to be prepared for another lesson tomorrow!”

Gavin sagged forward, sighing in exasperation. Michael just snickered.

“Don’t worry, I’ll teach you how to kick him right in the dick. That’ll knock him down a few pegs,” Michael told him, slinging the arm around his neck again.

Gavin shook his head, but not enough to knock Michael’s arm off. “It helped. Everything you guys taught me helped.”

“Soon enough you’ll actually be competent enough to save yourself-”

He was cut off as Gavin took that precise moment to trip, nearly eating shit on the floor.

“I take that right fuckin’ back. Nevermind, looks like I’m still hired as a knight-in-shining armour,” Michael teased, helping him back upright.

“Fine by me,” Gavin said, grinning at him. 

Michael stopped suddenly, Gavin stopping a second later. 

“You okay with us, with them knowing?” Michael asked him, and Gavin could hear the nervousness, the sudden self-doubt, and his heart sank a little.

“Of course, boi,” Gavin reassured, stepping up to Michael. “As long as you’re okay, I’m okay.”

Michael nodded, still obviously not convinced. Gavin moved forward, and kissed him again.

“Believe me?” Gavin asked, quietly, and Michael smiled - the doubt fading.

“Yeah. Come on, let’s go get some celebratory bevs.” Michael threw his hands in the air. “For Gavin actually growing half a brain and being able to follow some instructions!”

“Michael, you’re terrible,” Gavin muttered, pouting.

“Sorry, boi. Celebratory drinks for Gavin being a badass and beating up some real fuckin’ bad guys, with the help of the teaching from us,” Michael cheered, throwing his arm around Gavin’s shoulders again.

“That’s better,” Gavin responded, then turning to kiss his cheek. 

“No shit, but you could do better,” Michael said, then stopped again, and kissed him again. 

“Now, _that’s_ better,” Michael teased, and Gavin was about to reply when Geoff hollered back at them.

“Stop fucking banging and get your little asses moving, I want some fucking cheeseburgers!” he yelled, and they both snickered, but picked up the pace.

Gavin realised, walking back to the car with Michael pressed up against him, that there was a feeling - one he hadn’t felt before, one he couldn’t exactly place. Like something had settled, maybe, inside him.

Of course, it paid off when, in less than a month, he was kidnapped _again._

He got out in less than fifteen minutes. By the time the scenario happened again - and again, and again after that, he was pretty sure he had broken some kind of record time for breaking out from being hostage. 

Michael still hovered about protectively, though, still promised to be his “knight in shining armour,” should he ever need it.

Gavin was perfectly okay with that.

**Author's Note:**

> A super happy (and late) birthday to Kae; I hope you had a great day and thanks for being a super awesome friend!! also thanks to Kayla who it was loads of fun collabing with again uwu ~ Jos (whalehuntingboyfriends)
> 
> Happy, happy birthday to the most wonderful Kae (even though it's late whoops) <3 Thanks for being so awesome man ~ Hope you enjoy this :D And another special thanks to Jos, whom I absolutely adore writing with - Kayla (Angelology)


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